Emergency admissions of cancer patients are a recognised problem which often leads to poor patient experience, lack of timely and appropriate care after admission and, of course, high costs for the NHS. There are various initiatives underway to reduce such admissions (eg end-of-life care strategy), however there is little understanding of patients’ own experiences.

The Exploring, Understanding and Reducing Emergency Cancer Admissions (EURECA) project explored the experiences of patients with lung cancer, their carers and health professionals who were involved in emergency admissions to hospital. The study team was especially interested in exploring what led to patients’ emergency admissions, and the benefits or problems associated with the hospital stay. Participants were recruited for interviews through three hospitals in the West Midlands.

The available evidence so far was presented at the seventh National Cancer Research Institute Conference 2011.

Insights from this research will facilitate the development of community and hospital services designed to reduce or avoid emergency admissions, and to improve hospital management following admission.

The research team was:

Dr Dan Munday (Principal Investigator)

Dr Eleni Karasouli